1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator, and particularly, to a refrigerator capable of being easily fabricated with low costs.
2. Background of the Disclosure
As is well known, a refrigerator is an apparatus for storing food items for a long time in a frozen or cool state.
The refrigerator may comprise a refrigerator body having a cooling chamber, a door configured to open and close the cooling chamber, and a refrigerating cycle device configured to provide cool air to the cooling chamber.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a refrigerator in accordance with the conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator comprises a refrigerator body 10 having a cooling chamber 20 therein, and a cooling chamber door 30 configured to open and close the cooling chamber 20.
The cooling chamber 20 is provided with a freezing chamber 21 and a refrigerating chamber 22.
The cooling chamber door 30 comprises a freezing chamber door 31 configured to open and close the freezing chamber 21, and a refrigerating chamber door 32 configured to open and close the refrigerating chamber 22.
A plurality of shelves 41, which is configured to partition an inner space of the refrigerating chamber 22 up and down, are provided in the refrigerating chamber 22.
A drawer 70 is provided in the refrigerating chamber 22.
Part of the drawer 70 forms a vegetable storage chamber 50 configured to store vegetables and/or fruits therein.
However, the conventional refrigerator may have the following problems.
The inside of the refrigerating chamber 22 has a relatively low temperature and a dry state, vegetables or fruits accommodated in the vegetable storage chamber 50 may easily wither to be damaged.
In order to solve such problem, as shown in FIG. 2, the conventional refrigerator is provided with a vegetable storage chamber having a sealing function. The vegetable storage chamber comprises a case 60 having an opening on a front surface thereof, and a drawer 70 accommodated in the case 70 in a withdrawable manner.
The case 60 is formed in shape of a rectangular parallelepiped of which front surface is open.
A plurality of ribs 62 protrude from an outer surface of the case 60. Under such configuration, transformation of the case 60 can be prevented.
A flange portion 63 is formed on the front surface of the case 60 so as to extend to outside.
The drawer 70 is provided with an accommodation portion 72 configured to accommodate food items therein, and a front portion 74 formed on a front surface of the accommodation portion 72.
The front portion 74 is formed to be contactable to the flange portion 63.
For an enhanced sealing function, a sealing member (gasket) 80 is provided at a contact region between the drawer 70 and the case 60.
A pump (vacuum pump) 73 configured to discharge air inside the case 60 to outside, and a connection pipe 75 are provided at one side of the case 60.
Once air inside the case 60 is discharged to outside by the pump 73, a depressurizing chamber is formed in the drawer 70 and the case 60. Under such configuration, food items stored in the drawer 70 can be stored for a long time in a more fresh state.
The case 60 and the drawer 70 may be formed of a metallic member (e.g., stainless). Under such configuration, when the inside of the case 60 is depressurized, transformation of the case 60 and the drawer 70 can be prevented.
The case 60 and the drawer 70 are formed of a metallic material, for prevention of transformation thereof when the inside of the case 60 and the drawer 70 is depressurized. This may cause a difficulty in fabricating the case 60 and the drawer 70, and may increase the fabrication costs.
In order to solve such problems, the case is formed of a synthetic resin member. However, in this case, the case may be transformed when being depressurized. Especially, an entrance region of the case may be transformed.